Second Chances
by Hanspam
Summary: What would Rangers do if they were given the chance to relive moments of their lives? *Chapter 7 added*
1. Default Chapter

Second Chances  
  
Summary: Some sort of weird feel-good post Christmas fic  
  
Rating: PG  
  
Disclaimer: Saban owns all recognised characters. Michelle Branch owns the rights to the music and lyrics of the song "Second Chances"  
  
Author's Notes: This came to me in a flash of inspiration. At least, I think it did. I haven't had any new ideas in a long while, so it was kind of hard to tell.... anyway, think of this chapter as one of those annoying previews to a new TV show. If things go as I think they will, each chapter hereafter will be dedicated to one character.  
  
  
  
*...* lyrics from song "Second Chances" by Michelle Branch  
  
  
*Sometimes we get second chances  
and sometimes we never make it past the first  
It really makes you wonder why some things happen when they do  
it really makes me wonder why it wasn't me instead of you*  
  
  
Trini  
  
You can be as successful as you like.  
  
You can earn as much money as there is floating about in the world. You can have the best house, the best clothing, the best of everything there is to have.  
  
But what use is it if you're not happy?  
  
If you keep on wishing for a second chance... to relive a moment earlier in your life, except this time you'd play it differently?  
  
Trini rolled over in her spacious bed, trying valiantly to get to sleep, and made a heartfelt wish.  
  
"Just one second chance...."  
  
  
*and when you say it doesn't matter, well it does  
and all it takes is a mistake to eat your words  
just one more time I think I'll drive on home tonight*  
  
Kim  
  
So many times she'd driven past his house.   
  
Every time the light was on, every time there was nothing stopping her pulling up and ringing the doorbell except her pride.  
  
Some things can never be made right was her belief.  
  
Life has to go on. Things can't stay the same while you keep on hoping against hope for one single second chance...  
  
  
*Sometimes we never see the warning  
And the voice in your head tells you not to go  
It really make me wonder why some things happen when they do  
It really makes me wonder why it wasn't me instead of you*  
  
Tommy  
  
  
It still haunts his dreams at night.  
  
No matter how many times people try to reassure him he has done so much for the side of good, he still wonders exactly what is was in him that made Rita pick him to be her evil pawn.  
  
He knows he has dark tendencies.  
  
But doesn't everyone?  
  
On dream recurs often, and it's a dream that he wished he could live out, if only to end his agony about what could have been.  
  
Could he have resisted the spell that made him evil? Could he have worked for the side of good right from the start?  
  
  
*and when you're gone it's too late to turn around  
and it's another day facing yourself and the things that you've done*  
  
Rocky  
  
There are things about him that no-one knows. That he doesn't really want to tell anyone.  
  
Even Aisha and Adam, his friends from childhood, don't know the full truth.  
  
His secret, left over from so many years ago, seems as though it would never see the light of day.  
  
After all, it happened before he came to Angel Grove. There was no real reason for anyone to know.  
  
Except he wanted to tell them. But every day it got harder and harder to break the news.  
  
What would have happened if he'd been truthful from the start?  
  
  
*and when you're gone it's too late to turn around  
and it's another day facing yourself and the things that you've done*  
  
  
Tanya  
  
Family secrets are those of the worst kind.  
  
She never told anyone that she had a sister whom she had never met.  
  
She wanted every day to pick the phone up and make some sort of contact. At least she could say she had tried if her efforts were in vain and she couldn't find Michelle.  
  
But, like Rocky, every day got harder and harder. She was better off without her sister, she liked being an only child, what would her friends think of her....  
  
It would be so much easier if she'd had a second chance.... 


	2. Trini

Chapter 2 :Trini  
  
Rating/Disclaimer: See before  
  
Author's Notes: I'm writing as quick as I can because I'm currently in the middle of packing all my earthly belongings to move house. And I know the time differences I calculated are wrong. I've spent all day carrying bags of books and magazines down two flights of stairs, so my brain is not mathematically inclined.  
  
#2: I haven't actually seen the episode where Billy leaves. So any inaccuracies are my fault (as usual).  
  
Thanks: Devon, hope you feel better soon! And red jacketed chica, calm down!! All will soon be revealed. But not in this chapter...  
  
Code to inside Trini's head: *Alice's words* _Trini's thoughts_  
  
  
  
There was only one film in the world that could make Trini cry. It wasn't even a sappy chick-flick genetically programmed to make all women cry and all men shake their heads and wonder why.  
  
It was the scene in Armageddon where Ben Affleck goes off into the great beyond, leaving Liv Tyler's character behind, not knowing when he'll return.  
  
If he'll return.  
  
The first time she saw it was, unfortunately, just after she'd learned Billy had left for Aquitar. Watching it in a crowded room among the other delegates at the peace conference was, perhaps, not the best idea. Luckily, only Zack noticed her crying at the similarities to her situation.  
  
Later on, he told her he knew instantly her reason for crying, although he didn't voice it in words for another couple of hours. He was too busy pointing out all the technical inaccuracies in the film, as only male ex- Rangers can.  
  
  
  
  
  
She was crying because she never got the chance to say goodbye to her very own personal spaceman.  
  
Billy.  
  
Of course, Zack had to point out that she didn't actually admit her feelings to him, and now that he was apparently married to this fish-woman and living on another planet, there was little chance she ever could.  
  
Jason, telephoning from Angel Grove, was a little more sympathetic, but not by much. At least he tried to give her practical advice - "He's not likely to come back, so I'd move on with my life if I were you. He was on of the best, but he's moved on."  
  
There wasn't really much she could say in response. No matter how much she knew it was the truth, it simply wasn't what a broken-hearted girl wanted to hear, so she rang Kim for girly advice.  
  
"There's no point in wishing for second chances," she said, sounding as depressed as Trini felt. "They never happen."  
  
And although Trini didn't want to move on, it was inevitable. She couldn't exactly call the telephone operator and ask for a collect call to Aquitar, could she? And short of breaking all the rules and going out there herself, there was nothing else she could see to do.  
  
She found herself thinking less and less of what had gone before, as time went on. She had boyfriends, lovers and even a short-lived engagement that lasted all of three months. The measuring to Billy's standards was never admitted by her, but none of them could seem to compare.  
  
And all this comparing, and wondering, and daydreaming about what could have been... well, it led to her being alone on New Year's Eve, watching the rubbish television and drinking endless cups of coffee. She'd rung friends to see what their plans were, but either their answering machines were on, or she got no answer. Trini had the distinct feeling that more than one of them were screening their calls, but if they weren't in the mood for company, then so be it.  
  
She certainly understood that feeling.  
  
But it made things slightly more frightening when she heard strange noises coming from her backyard at about eleven thirty.  
  
"Is anyone out there?" she called cautiously after leaving her comfortable post on her sofa. She stopped suddenly and said, "Fantastic, Trini. You're talking to the raccoons in your back yard again. Your New Year's Eve simply could not be any more pathetic."  
  
"Oh, believe me, that's debatable," said an unexpected voice from behind her.  
  
She swirled around, mentally thanking the gods that she'd kept up with her martial arts training over the years.  
  
Trini was certainly expecting a more formidable opponent than a girl barely her age, with perfect blonde ringlets and white skin. She was dressed all in white and looking as though she could quite easily be an angel.  
  
"And who might you be?" she asked, trying to calm her heart rate.  
  
"I know enough about you to realise you won't believe the truth," the intruder said with a smile on her face. "If I told you I was a guardian angel, then you'd calmly reply with 'Get the hell out of my kitchen'."  
  
Trini bit her lip to suppress a giggle. Whoever this person may be, she certainly had Trini's philosophy on life down pat. "You got that right, at least," she replied. "What's your name?"  
  
"Alice. And you're Trini Marie Kwan, aged 23 years old, former Power Ranger and Youth Peace Conference delegate."  
  
"Someone's been doing their research," Trini said coolly. _How the hell did she know I was a Ranger?_ "Explain to me again exactly why it is that you're here?"  
  
"You might as well sit down, this could take a while if you're going to be this prickly about everything," Alice told her. Trini sat down on her sofa while Alice remained standing in the middle of the room. The light shining behind the stranger almost persuaded Trini that she was an angel, for a moment she could almost see a halo glistening. It disappeared as soon as it came.  
  
"I don't need to feed you all that crap about how New Year's is a time for new beginnings and everything. You know as well as I do that people go on hating, hurting and killing whether it's New Year's day or slap-bang in the middle of July."  
  
Trini nodded. She'd seen enough during her days as a Ranger to know that much was true. "Yeah. And?"  
  
Alice rolled her eyes. "Impatience will get you nowhere. Anyway as I was saying, I can't give you a new beginning, or a respite from all of the wars of the world. I haven't been an angel for that long, and that kind of thing's reserved for emergencies. What I deal in is second chances."  
  
She was intrigued in spite of herself. "What kind of second chances?"  
  
"I can give you precisely 24 hours. One day to relive again, from any period of your life that's gone before. If you want to be boring, you can simply relive the best moment of your life, then return back to the present day. You'll have changed absolutely nothing. Or - " Alice paused for maximum effect. "I can give you 24 hours where you did something you regret, or failed to do something that you now wished you'd done. And after those 24 hours are lived again, I'll appear and ask you whether you want to stay in this life that I created for you, or go back to the one you were originally given."  
  
Trini finally remembered to close her open mouth, but soon she opened it again to ask, "It sounds pretty good and everything, but where's the catch? If I stay in the new life, will all my friends suddenly disappear or something evil? And why did you choose me?"  
  
Alice shrugged her shoulders, and moved to sit beside Trini. "There is no catch. And you've been chosen because... well, you may have the materialistic things of life, the money, the car, the job, but the powers that be have noticed that you haven't exactly been the happiest bird in the tree lately. After all the good you've done for others, they figured that you needed a break from the monotony. So, here I am. Just think of me as your very own time-travelling machine. When'll it be?"  
  
"Yeah, but I'm not the only one of my friends who isn't finding it easy to get out of bed each morning," Trini pointed out. The collective of ex- Rangers who had pocketed themselves in Angel Grove hadn't been happy recently, for various reasons. "Are you or your fellow angelettes going to see them too? If you're not, then I want to try to help them too."  
  
"You always were the thoughtful one, weren't you?" Alice remarked, but pulled a piece of paper out of her pocket. "And I can see... well, there's you, obviously. Rocky DeSantos, Kimberly Hart, Tanya Sloan and Thomas Oliver, they're my only stops in Angel Grove tonight."  
  
"Rocky? He was the only one of us who's even been approaching happy recently. What would he want to change?" Trini wondered out loud. Maybe it had been the weather, uncharacteristically Californian over the past few weeks, damp and rainy, but all five of them fivehadn't been filled with Christmas spirit, or indeed happiness for the New Year.  
  
Alice shook her head, causing her unruly curls to fly everywhere. "Sorry, everything's strictly confidential. Angel business, you know." She folded the creased piece of paper and placed it back in her pocket. "I don't mean to pressure you, but I have to sort out all five of you with second chance scenarios, and you're my first target. And we're running out of time..."  
  
  
  
_I could go back to when I was seven and we were all round at Uncle Howard's house. I tripped over and started a minor fire in his laboratory... Sure everyone said it wasn't my fault, but when I think of all the damage I caused...  
  
_Oh god. Who am I even pretending to kid? I know exactly when I want my second chance. 24 May 1997. If I get straight on a plane in Geneva at midnight, I could be in California at... well, hopefully in enough time to stop him leaving. Or at least to tell him how I feel.  
  
_And if I don't get there in time... at least I can say that I tried. I wouldn't feel so bitter that no-one told me about his leaving until so long afterwards._  
  
  
  
"Trini, honey? I really need to get a decision out of you, pronto."  
  
Trini snapped herself out of her morose thoughts, to see a slightly worried looking Alice straing back at her.  
  
"You really are an angel, aren't you?|" she said wonderingly.  
  
"Well if I'm not, you're going to wake up tomorrow morning and be out for my blood," Alice said with a smile on her face. "Am I right?"  
  
"Something like that," Trini said, returning the smile. "I guess it'll have to be... May 24."  
  
"1997?" Alice asked. Reading Trini's mind, she said "I kind of got a few points in the right direction from my superior. He figured that's when you'd ask for."  
  
"So what happens now?" Trini asked. She was beginning to feel more than a little uncomfortable with the situation. Although she thought Alice was an angel, it wouldn't be the first time she'd believed other people's lies. She'd placed all her hopes on this stranger, and what if it all came to nothing so she woke up alone once more?  
  
Alice pulled a small vial filled with liquid from another concealed pocket in her snow-white robes. "Well, you take the tiniest drop of this, and close your eyes. And I, you very own guardian angel, will transport you to 1997. Presumably you want to be taken to Geneva airport, ready to board a pre-arranged plane so you can proclaim your love to a certain genius?"  
  
Not waiting for an answer, she placed a tiny drop of the murky orange liquid from a spoon left over from Trini's last cup of coffee, and gave it to Trini to drink. The last thing she heard was,  
  
"Us angels are cleverer than we look, you know..."  
  
  
  
  
  
24 May 1997  
  
Alice had done good this time.  
  
Trini somehow found herself standing in a queue in Geneva airport, presumably in line for a flight to California.  
  
In her hands were her passport and tickets, and a small suitcase was standing beside her.  
  
_Looks like this is it, then_ Trini thought to herself, as the line moved slowly forward. _No turning back, not now I've been given this second chance. I'm going to tell him how I feel, even if he ends up turning me down. At least if that happens, I can return back to the life where I never told him. No harm done... except to my pride._  
  
The wait in between checking in and her flight being called was the closest thing to torture that she'd experienced outside of her days as a Ranger. This flight was one of the few permitted to take off in the early hours of the morning, because of the time difference, which meant that the airport was almost deserted.  
  
Trini paced the airport for something to do, seeing as the kiosks selling books and things to eat were all closed as far as she could see. When she had first flown back to America after her stay in Switzerland, she had been so excited she could hardly sit still, and Zack had been forced to threaten her with sleeping pills so she would sit down. This time, she was alone, it wasn't as though she was returning home after two years away. She'd been back in California for four years, and she was 23 now, not 17. Although....  
  
Trini looked at the length of her hair, a sure giveaway of her age. It was past her waist... so she must be back to her seventeen year old self. Although she was twentythree inside. How did that work?  
  
Her thoughts were rudely cut off by the loudspeaker starting to crackle loudly.  
  
"Attention ladies and gentlemen... American Airlines flight 497 will now be departing from gate 6.... all passengers for this flight please proceed to Gate 6 where we are ready for boarding."  
  
She practically raced to Gate 6, ready for this show to be on the road. Even though she would be cooped up in a metal tube for the next thirteen or so hours, at least she would have the feeling of moving closer and closer to her second chance.  
  
Things were starting to happen at last.  
  
  
  
Sometime when the plane was travelling over the Atlantic Ocean, Trini began to wonder how exactly she was going to get from LA to Angel Grove. The journey was easily 3 hours on a good day, and she'd be arriving slap bang in the middle of morning rush hour.  
  
_I suppose there are buses that go to Stone Canyon, and I can always hire a car if I don't have any money about my person,_ Trini thought to herself. _I have to get there somehow... and I don't suppose anyone knows about my coming back to America. No-one will be there to meet me._  
  
Thirteen hours on the plane passed in roughly the same fashion. Trini thinking of many, many things that could go wrong with her plan, then being comforted by the same fact time and time again.  
  
This wasn't her actual life she was risking. She could always return to her twenty-three year old self, and pretend that none of this had ever happened.  
  
_And if things work out the way that I want them to... Alice wasn't exactly very forthcoming over what would happen if I wanted to stay in this parallel universe. Would my memory be wiped or what?_  
  
*Of course we'd wipe your memory. You might need some money when you're fifty years old and sell your story to the National Enquirer. 'Angel Turns Up and I Find Love'. It'd be very sweet, but we don't want the world knowing we exist.*  
  
_Alice? Can you tell me how exactly I'm going to get to Angel Grove from LA?_  
  
*Oh, for god's sake.... you'll see when you get there. Now calm down, I've got to visit Rocky's head. He seems to think I'm his personal servant.*  
  
Trini shook her head violently, causing several fellow passengers to stare at her confusedly. She smiled apologetically at them, and they smiled kindly at her.  
  
_They probably think I'm going mad... hell, I think I'm going mad, so why shouldn't they? I wonder how everyone else will react to Alice turning up in their lives?_  
  
Trini finally had something to think about other than her own situation. How would her friends second chances turn out?  
  
  
  
*LA, 7am local time*  
  
  
  
It was practically a miracle, but the flight had landed half an hour ahead of schedule. The ladies sitting across the aisle from Trini didn't regard it as a miracle, however. Both were unable to sleep on planes, and had spent almost the entire journey trying desperately to analyse Trini's facial expressions.  
  
There had been the laughter when she imagined Rocky going back to a time when he'd entered an All You Can Eat competition, hoping to eat even more. There had been the wishes that either Kim or Tommy would return to the time of their breakup and rectify the situation. And there had been the bewilderment at what Tanay's problem would be.  
  
Trini knew nothing of the ladies' fascination with her, and walked into the airport concourse with more than a niggling feeling of wonder at what she would find there.  
  
She hadn't expected a huge gathering of all her friends, but then again, she hadn't expected a personal driver to be holding up a cardboard sign saying "Trini Kwan", either.  
  
"Miss Kwan? I'm Sven. Angel Grove is your destination?" Slight Scandinavian accent, she noticed. In with the angels? She wouldn't be surprised.  
  
"Yes, please. How long will it take us to get there?"  
  
The tall blond man consulted his watch. "It is 7.15 now... I say about two hours, we miss most of the traffic if we leave now."  
  
"Lead the way."  
  
  
  
*Angel Grove, 9.30*  
  
  
  
Sven had dropped her off in the outskirts of town, by Trini's request. She had no idea where Billy or anyone would be if they weren't at school, and she knew that security had been tightened since she'd left. Despite being a former student, she had a strong feeling she wouldn't be let into the school without some sort of pass.  
  
So, there was time to spare, after all. Her suitcase was barely heavier than a flea, and was hardly a burden. It swung by her side as she strolled the streets of the town she'd left behind not so long ago.  
  
Trini passed the park, with a brief smile for the memories of the football games and picnics that had been held there over the years. Of course, in her 'normal' life, she drove past the park every day on her way to work, but it was as though she was seeing it through new eyes today.  
  
Checking the time, she noticed that there were at least 5 hours before her friends would be released from school. As her eyes left the glass casing of her watch and returned to her surroundings, she caught the eye of an old man standing across the road from her.  
  
_Billy_. Even in his older form, there was simply no mistaking him. And from the startled expression on his face, he'd apparently noticed her, too.  
  
She crossed the road, immediately. As she did, a thought suddenly came into her head.  
  
_Do I tell him how I got here? Not the plane, but the angel help? He's one of us, he'd understand..._  
  
*No. Whatever you do, keep me and what I did a secret. Not even for him.*  
  
Trini was about to reply, when Billy spoke. "What... Trini? Why are you here?"  
  
Trini cleared her throat and shuffled her feet a little. Now that her moment was here, she was about to lose her nerve. "I... um, heard about what was. What had happened. I came to see if there was anything I could do to help."  
  
Billy smiled, not as sad as many of his smiles had been recently. "It's great to see you again, even if I do wish it could be in better circumstances." he said self-deprecatingly, gesturing to his wrinkled hands.  
  
"What happened?" she asked, even though it was a story she had heard many times before. Never had she heard it told by Billy.  
  
So he explained, about how he had been saving his colleagues, but eventually caused his own downfall. Not once in the entire story did he show any regret in what he had done. Billy seemed to accept this as a quirky turn of fate.  
  
After the story was over, there was an awkward pause between them. Billy broke it, but saying  
  
"Why are you really here, Trini? You couldn't exactly have said to the people at the Peace Conference that your old friend had suddenly aged fifty years and you had to go and say goodbye."  
  
Trini cleared her throat, and looked down at the floor. "No, I couldn't exactly say that," she agreed. "But... I could say that the man I love might be leaving me, and I came to say goodbye."  
  
Her voice trailed off so dramatically at the end of her sentence that Billy couldn't believe that he had heard what he thought he had. The spluttering that came from his mouth had nothing to do with old age. "You... you love? Love me?"  
  
"Yeah." There was a half-smile playing aound Trini's face, partly because she was nervous, and partly because she couldn't believe that after all this time, she had finally said the words she longed to say.  
  
"But...but Trini, they can't find a cure for me. I'm going to have to go to Aquitar to get a cure, and that could take years." Billy had a half smile on his face also, but he looked more worried that ecstatic. "I mean.... I love you too, but there's no way we can be together!"  
  
"They'll find a cure for you in no time," Trini reassured Billy, having the advantage over him in that she already knew part of the outcome. "And you'll be able to come back, and I'll finish off the year here... I don't want to go back to Switzerland, not without you."  
  
Billy could hardly take in what was going on. As soon as he aged fifty years, his childhood sweetheart travelled halfway across the world to profess her love. To give up her future for him. As much as he loved her... "I can't ask you to do that for me, Trini. You'd be giving up one of the greatest opportunities..."  
  
"Billy, stop making excuses. I passed up the greatest opportunity when I left for Switzerland, because I didn't tell you how I felt then. I had to wait until you were almost dying..."  
  
Their perfect moment was interrupted by the vision of a slightly breathless Alice over Billy's shoulder. Trini's mouth dropped, and her eyes quickly turned to Billy. But Billy's stare was vacant, and she realised that Alice had somehow managed to stop time.  
  
Well, why not. She could go back and forwards in time, so why not stop it altogether.  
  
"Alice, what are you doing here? You're not supposed to be here for another... what, 6, 7 hours?" Trini said angrily. "We were just getting somewhere."  
  
"Believe me, I didn't want to interrupt your tender moment, but things had hit an unexpected bump in the road, hence we cut off your time in the parallel universe. And I need a decision."  
  
"What? Now? When I don't even know how he feels?" Trini questioned. "I could end up making the completely wrong decision, and then I'd sue your ass."  
  
Alice grinned. "You can't sue me, I'm your angel," she pointed out. "But if I were you, I'd stay. Even if he turned you down, you can rebuild your life the way you did before. Things wouldn't be all that different."  
  
Trini sighed, and all the energy seemed to be sapped out of her with that one sigh. "You have no idea how much that took out of me," she said softly. "I don't think I could go through that again..."  
  
"I know, honey, but it was your choice to come here. You could have gone back to your seven year old self, and not started the fire..." Trini looked at her, startled. "Oh yeah. How do you think I got into your mind in the first place? I can read your mind as easily as a book."  
  
"Well, that's reassuring," she muttered.  
  
"Not as reassuring as your decision will be. Now would be a good time..."Alice pressured.  
  
Trini sighed, and looked once again at Billy's stone-like form standing next to her. In her heart, she knew there was only one decision she could make....  
  
  
  
A/N (yes, again!) Sorry for the annoying yet strangely formulaic cliffhanger. I'm getting to work on the 3rd chapter already. 


	3. Kim

Second Chances #3  
  
Disclaimer/Rating: As before.  
  
A/N: Sorry for delay, I've been busy becoming LOTR-obsessed. And, you know, working for a living.  
  
Thank you's: Girl In Red (Orlando Bloom!!), Devon, Ophelia North and Ibonekoen, thanks for reviewing the last chapter.  
  
  
  
  
  
New Year's Eve.  
  
Just another day.  
  
She really didn't see anything positive about the new year at all. A chance to start again? Some say that, but not her.  
  
After all, she'd had more than one chance to start all over again. And whenever she'd taken them, they'd end up going horribly wrong.  
  
Take the moving across the country thing, to become a world class gymnast. It had sounded good on paper, but in reality?  
  
What fun that turned out to be. breaking her ankle in three places wasn't exactly the way to endear herself to the selectors of any teams.  
  
Then again... she seriously doubted she'd have chosen to become a nurse if it hadn't been for the care that she'd received while in hospital.  
  
Moving back to California - a decision which she had thought would have brought her happiness, was so far turning out to be strangely neutral.  
  
She'd had the idea that being back in the town where she'd spent most of her childhood years would have somehow magically turned her life back into its happy state it had held before.  
  
Things hadn't turned out like that... not yet, anyway. She had returned in September to find her friends in some kind of stupor, wrapped up in their own lives, their own problems.  
  
Adult life didn't have the same tendency to work itself out in the same way as their teenage years had.  
  
  
  
Nurse Kim Hart stood at a payphone, checking her messages during a break in her shift. Three messages from Trini proclaiming that no-one was in, and what was everyone doing with their New Year's to be unable to answer the phone, anyway?  
  
"Working, Trini, that's what I'm doing," she said quietly into the receiver. "Some of us have to earn our living in more menial jobs than publishing."  
  
She hung up the phone, and sighed, not wanting to leave the general peace of the staffroom just yet. New Year's Eve was traditionally a time for many patients, and this year was to be no different. She was lucky to be able to take a break at all, what with the influx of minor injuries streaming into the hospital every minute. But she was there, with a cup of tea to be drunk before she even thought of stepping back into the ward again.  
  
"It's a hard life, isn't it?" someone asked jovially. Although Kim hadn't heard anyone follow her into the staffroom, she presumed it must be the voice of one of her colleagues, so she replied without turning around,  
  
"Doesn't get much harder than a New Year's Eve, I can tell you that for sure."  
  
"It's the time of year that makes you wish you had a second chance, wouldn't you say?" the same person replied.  
  
Thinking this was a little too deep for a fellow nurse or doctor also in the middle of their shift, Kim turned around, and came face to face with the same person who had left Trini in 1997 only moments before.  
  
"Second chances don't exist," Kim said tiredly, taking another sip of her tea. "Or at least, they say they do, but they're really another time for us to fail again."  
  
"I see I've found another person who's lost their faith in humanity over the festive season," she remarked. "Can't you become the innocent person you once were, Kim?"  
  
Kim's eyes widened. She'd never seen this woman before, and yet she knew her name, and about her once-optimistic personality. "How do you know my name?" seemed the most obvious question to ask, so she asked it.  
  
"When you're someone's guardian angel, it normally helps if you memorise their name," she told Kim. "And it would probably help if you knew mine as well. I'm Alice."  
  
Kim stood up. "You've obviously got a concussion," she told Alice. "There's no such thing as angels."  
  
"Well, I'd revise that belief if I were you. Otherwise you'd be terribly worried when I told you I'd just deposited your friend Trini Kwan in 1997, ready for her second chance."  
  
Involuntarily, Kim sat down again. "Once more, with explanation?"  
  
Alice rolled her eyes. "You two are both as sarcastic as each other. My name is Alice, and I've been sent here to give you and some of your friends second chances. I give you twentyfour hours from any period of your life, and you can use them to relive them, or change them, whatever you please. Then... you decide whether you want to stay in the world I helped you to create, or come back to this world, where you're a dissatisfied nurse wondering where all your chances in life disappeared to."  
  
"I'm not dissatisfied!" Kim protested, even though a tiny voice somewhere inside her head was telling her she'd been unhappy ever since the succession of injuries three years ago. "I just... I never pictured my life turning out the way it has. That doesn't mean I don't like my life."  
  
"It doesn't matter about that, although in my opinion it's all the more reason to believe that I really am your very own personal angel, and to go for the second chance," Alice pointed out.  
  
"I already had second chances. Each time I took one, I was as gutless as the first," Kim said morosely. "So, I believe you're an angel now, is that what you want to hear? And as your personal, um, person to guide, I think you should go and find someone who wouldn't waste their second chance. Wouldn't that be easier?"  
  
Alice shook her head from side to side. "I admire your selflessness, but I'm going to stick around until you give me a date to take you back to. The powers that be... well, they can't actually kill me again, but they can make my life as an angel pretty unpleasant if you refuse to take your chance. Plus, it would probably torment you if you passed this opportunity up. All those thoughts about what might have been...  
  
Kim inclined her head to show she was considering what Alice had said. "So, you can really give me the chance to go back to any time of my life? No restrictions or anything?"  
  
"None whatsoever. You can go back to when you were two years old, or something a little more recent. It's completely up to you, but you'll have to think pretty sharply. I've got more people to sort out with chances after you, and thanks to Trini I'm running late already."  
  
"Who else are you going to see?" Kim asked curiously. Like Trini, she was well aware that their group of friends had gone without momentous luck in their lives for longer than they cared to remember.  
  
"I've already seen Trini, then on to your ex-significant other, Rocky, and Tanya. Soon, hopefully, if you'll ever make a decision and let us get out of here," Alice pressured impatiently, looking at the clock hanging on the wall. "I'd prefer to get this over and done with by midnight, if at all possible."  
  
"How did you know- oh never mind, I suppose it comes with the territory of being an agel," Kim realised Alice must kow more about her than even she did. It would figure that she knew all about past relationships. "And I suppose you know exactly where I'm going to want to go, but you want me to figure it out for myself?"  
  
"You're catching on with this angel business," Alice smiled. "But no, I can't take you anywhere unless I'm expressly instructed by you. So...think on your feet."  
  
  
  
_I could do the whole 'Stop my parents divorcing' thing, and go back to when I was about nine or ten. If I got both of my parents to promise that they'd never split up, then I could hold them to it. Then they'd never get divorced... but I guess, despite all the rough patches it put our family through, everything's worked out for the best. My mom's safely settled in Paris, where she can't control meso much, and my dad's in Seattle with his supermodel wife.  
  
_There's always the day I broke my ankle... 13th August, 1997. If I had been more careful that day on the vault, I'd maybe get the chance to go to the Olympics. And if I won a medal, I wouldn't have to work for a living, and I could go to live abroad again. But...  
  
_Even though I complain like hell, I still really like being a nurse. It brought me back down to earth after being imprisoned in a gymnastics compound for two years, and i'm helping people. I must have been designed to always help others..._  
  
"Kim? Decision? Preferably now!"  
  
_Oh, God. When? Where? And why me?_  
  
It wasn't a date that would affect her parent's relationshiip, or even her career. But she couldn't believe she hadn't thought of it sooner. It was, after all, the worst decision she'd ever made in her life. Full stop. One that had never quite managed to rectify itself, either.  
  
"8th February. 1996."  
  
Alice smiled in a self-satisfactory way.  
  
"Let me guess. That was one of the top dates on your list."  
  
"The top date, in fact, surrounded by stars and glittery sparkles," Alice confirmed. "If you hadn't chosen somewhere around that time, I'd have thought there was something extremely wrong with you."  
  
"I'm glad to hear that I have your approval, then." Kim replied, suddenly, and for no apparent reason, feeling light-hearted.  
  
The 8th of February was the day when she hadn't had anyone to turn to. The day when she'd let all of her insecurities weigh her down, and decided to write The Letter.  
  
Trini thought she was mad for doing such an extreme thing, but at the time, Kim's reasoning had been that things couldn't have been much worse. Her suspicions about the attraction between Tommy and Kat had been growing every day, and it didn't seem fair that she should tie him down if he needed to break free. So... the breakup.  
  
If she didn't write the letter, the knock-one effects of her decision could very well lead to a happier life.  
  
"Okay, now that you've chosen - finally - you just drink a spoonful of my wonderful orange goop, and you'll be back in 1996, with 24 hours to change your world." Alice grinned, and found her vial filled with the liquid. "I guess there's a spoon around here somewhere, what with all the liquids you guys drink?"  
  
"Yeah, over by the sink there should be... wait a minute? If I go back to 1996, won't I disappear from this world as well? And I'm supposed to be working for 4 more hours, it's pretty likely they'll notice something's wrong."  
  
"You obviously aren't an expert on angels and their powers," Alice said as she glided over to the sink and retrieved a clean spoon from the tiny sink in the corner of the room. "If you were, you'd know that we can each stop time in the present day so that up to 5 parallel lives can be led at a time."  
  
"Is that why you only chose 5 of us? Presumably you know that there are more of my friends who aren't exactly extolling the joys of spring?" Kim asked Alice as she was given the spoon filled with orange liquid.  
  
"They'll have another angel than me, but I only know about you five. Now hurry up and drink," she looked at the clock again, "otherwise I won't be able to see the rest of your friends by midnight," Alice rushed her.  
  
Kim made a face as she looked at the less than attractive liquid lurking in the spoon. But, against her better judgement, she swallowed.  
  
  
  
*8th February 1996*  
  
She remembered the old routine so well, she automatically woke up at the right time.  
  
The right time being, of course, 5:30am.  
  
Kim wondered at the unusual feeling she had at being seventeen again. _I feel.... younger, but then again, shouldn't I have the same mind as I did a minute ago? Or 5 and a half hours ago? I don't know. All I know is, I'm confused. Very confused. And my alter-ego has a cold._  
  
*Atchoo!*  
  
"So, you're still sneezing, then," her roommate Erika said, looking over at Kim from her bed across the room. "Great excuse for you to get out of practise!"  
  
"Yeah, I guess," Kim said, adding a croak to her voice for extra authenticity. "I think I'll go back to sleep."  
  
"I'll tell Coach you're still not right," Erika announced as she pulled her bedcovers down. "You'd be as well to get some sleep. That should make you feel better."  
  
Kim didn't respond to Erika's advice, she was too busy figuring out what she should do.  
  
5.30 in Florida meant 2.30 in California. And despite however much she as a 17 year old needed to speak to her far away boyfriend, she was not going to wake him up at 2.30 in the morning.  
  
_I might take Erica's advice and sleep for a while,_ Kim thought drowsily. _I always knew she was a smart cookie..._  
  
  
  
Kim slept for rather longer than she had intended. A quick nap had turned into a long doze, and it was almost two in the afternoon before she woke up. And that hadn't been by natural means, as her first sight was of Alice, bending before her and looking worried.  
  
"Alice? Why? I didn't sleep for twenty-four hours, did I?" Kim asked, sitting up and wiping the sleep from her eyes.  
  
"No, it's ten to two. But listen, we've run into problems. Something's gone all screwy with the timing of the entire thing, Trini's only been in 1997 for five minutes, and Rocky's been wherever he's been for over 24 hours. Ring Tommy, leave a message on his answering machine saying you need to talk to him asap, then I'll collect all your friends so you can make a decision."  
  
"That's impossible! How am I supposed to make a decision when I haven't even made this life better or worse yet?" Kim protested. Even her sneeze after her speech sounded angry. "And can't you get rid of this cold?"  
  
"He might be in when you ring," Alice pointed out. "You may find they had the day off school, and there aren't any unwelcome visitors on Earth this particular day."  
  
Kim just groaned, and picked up the phone.  
  
It rang for three rings, then a voice that answered said, "Hello?"  
  
Kim looked at Alice. "How did you know?" she mouthed silently. Alice just shrugged her shoulders innocently, and grinned.  
  
"Hey, Tommy, it's me," Kim said, feeling suddenly as though she were sick with nerves.  
  
"Kim? Why aren't you at practise? How did you know I was home?" Tommy sounded genuinely pleased to hear from his girlfriend, as you would expect him to be. Nothing untoward had happened... yet.  
  
"I didn't know you'd be at home, I was going to leave a message," she explained. "And I've got a cold, so they gave me the day off. Or I fell asleep and they didn't want to wake me, I'm not sure which."  
  
"Well, that's great! I mean," Tommy hastily corrected himself. "Not that you're ill. But that we can have a conversation for the first time in ages. We haven't had the time for so long, and it feels like..."  
  
"It feels like you're slipping away from me," Kim said quietly, so quietly that she didn't know whether Tommy had heard her, but it was true. All the emotions of this day so long ago came flooding back, and it was true what her boyfriend had just said.  
  
What with his 'after-school job', and her training, they simply hadn't talked. It had been answerphone messages, and instructions left with roommates or parents.  
  
_No wonder Tommy found it so easy to believe that there had been another guy..._  
  
"Yeah," Tommy said equally quietly. "I don't want to lose you, Kim. Even if it means me coming to Florida after school finishes."  
  
"I don't want you giving up your life for me," Kim insited, forgetting that she was supposed to be twenty-three, forgetting that there was an angel in the room who had given her this second chance. "If it means me coming back to California for us to stay together, then I'll do it."  
  
"We can work something out," Tommy replied, as Kim had a coughing fit to cover up the fact that Alice was bouncing up and down to indicate it was time to go. "Beautiful? Are you okay?"  
  
Kim suddenly smiled. "I'm better than I was, but I think I'd better go. my cold medicine is making me sleepy, and this call's going to cost me a fortune."  
  
Tommy sighed relcutantly. "Okay then. I hope you feel better soon."  
  
"So do I.... I love you."  
  
"Love you too."  
  
Kim hung up the phone, but before she could even smile at the way the conversation had turn out, Alice grabbed her hand, and the Florida bedroom disappeared before her eyes. 


	4. Rocky

Chapter 4  
  
Rating/Disclaimer: See chapter 1  
  
Author's notes: Sorry about the gap in between chapters, but it's going to continue for at least a month. This will probably be my last chapter before I move, and then I won't have access to the Internet at home for about a month.  
  
Thanks: Everyone who's reviewed this story, especially Jacks, who braved the ff.net guard dog to review one chapter twice. This one's for you!  
  
  
*****  
  
New Year's Ever was a time for wild parties, fancy dress costumes, and behaving so badly that you couldn't wait for the New year to ring in, so you could promise never to behave that badly again.  
  
Or so some people said, in the times of fable and when you still believed in the tooth fairy and Easter bunnies. Rocky DeSantos, however, knew the truth about New Year's Eve. It was all an evil plot to make him babysit his younger relatives while the rest of his family partied the night away.  
  
He had had great plans for this evening, go out, get drunk and do all the things which he would end up regretting. Luckily for him (he had too many regrets already), his mother had enlisted his services at the annual family get-together every New Year's Eve.  
  
"But, Mama," Rocky had protested down the telephone lines. "I already have plans."  
  
He didn't really. Just an excuse to get away from the thousands of relatives who either avoided him like the plague or asked embarrassingly insightful questions into his personal life.  
  
"You have more important plans than coming to see your family?" Carmella DeSantos asked pointedly. "We hardly ever see you anymore. You wouldn't even recognise Isabella any more, it's been so long."  
  
Rocky grdgingly gave his mother the first point of the match. He hadn't even seen his younger sister for three months, and at the age of six...  
  
Anything could happen.  
  
Rocky pushed the thoughts of children growing up out of his mind, and responded,  
  
"Si, Mama, but you know I'm working almost all the time now in my new job. When I'm not at work, I'm sleeping."  
  
"Or eating," she remarked acerbically. "So, we'll expect you at seven-thirty? You'll have to come, or we'll all be eating leftovers for the rest of the decade."  
  
Two barbed comments in one, and three-nil to his mother. Was there really any point in protesting?  
  
"Alright. I'll see you at seven thirty."  
  
*****  
  
Later on that day, Rocky found himself sitting in the downstairs den of his parents home with seventeen sleeping children. His normal job at this time of the year... babysitting the kids.  
  
"At least some people appreciate my jokes around here," Rocky muttered softly so as not to wake any of his mini-relatives up from their restful slumber. "Even if they're not exactly the harshest critics around."  
  
He sighed and settled into his armchair, normally his father's favourite haunt. "So, Rocky, how did you spend your New Year's?" he asked himself, in a suitably appropriate interviewing tone.  
  
"Well, spent it observing the future presidents, scientists, professionals, and generally clever people of the next generation," he replied. It sounded so much better than merely babysitting.  
  
Sweeping a glance around the room to make sure all the children were safe and secure, his gaze rested on Isabella, his eight year old sister and youngest sibling.  
  
Rosa would be eight now... he recollected, then wondered where that had come from. He hadn't thought of her for quite some time...  
  
"Where are you right now?" he mumbled to himself, completely disregarding the noises coming from the celebrations upstairs. "Would I recognise you if I walked past you in the street?"  
  
"I could answer that for you. You've walked past her - without her mother being there, of course - and you didn't even bat an eyelid."  
  
Rocky turned to face the stairs that led to the basement of the house, and came face to face with Alice.  
  
Although she didn't appear to be Hispanic, Rocky had many relatives who weren't of his descent, and even more whom he did not recognise.  
  
"So who are you related to?" Rocky asked, not heeding her opening comment, not taking it in.  
  
Alice shrugged, taking care to speak quietly so as not to wake any of the sleeping children. "No-one you'd know."  
  
"Oh," Rocky mused, puzzled by her statement. "So why are you here? People don't normally come to family reunions unless they're, well, family."  
  
"Because it's New Year's Eve, silly," Alice laughed, making Rocky feel as though he was the stupidest person on the planet for not realising why she was in his house when in fact, he had no clue.   
  
"That helps me," he said sarcastically.  
  
"I make it my policy to go to new places on the last day of the year," she told him, as though it was the most normal thing in the world. "I decided to come here this year."  
  
Rocky decided to play along with her little charade. "Do you know anyone here to invite you?"  
  
"I know you. At least, I know of you," Alice said. "You and some of your friends are currently the hot topic of conversation among me and my comrades."  
  
"So who exactly are you? And why do your friends care about me and my friends?" ocky enquired, grateful for this interruption, even if he was finding it somewhat bizarre.  
  
"My name is Alice, and my friends... well, you don't really need to know about them. Not yet, anyway. But we've all been taking great interest in you over the last couple of months. And now I'm here to talk with you in person. Maybe somewhere where we don't have to be so quiet?"  
  
"There's a laundry room.."  
  
"Next door to this room, I know. I've been scouting around this place before tonight." She turned and left the room abruptly, leaving Rocky to follow her wake. Despite Alice's introductory spiel, he still had no idea who she was, or what she was really doing in his house.  
  
Entering the laundry room warily, he found Alice sitting on the rickety old deckchair his father had kept in the basement since Rocky was two or three years old.  
  
"You want to be careful on that chair," Rocky advised. "It's a classified antique, or at least it should be."  
  
Alice smiled. "I'll be fine, don't worry."  
  
There was an awkward silence between the two as each tried to think of an appropriate comment to start their conversation. Rare was the day that Rocky was stuck for words, but it seemed to have arrived at last.  
  
"Rocky... would you believe me if I told you I was an angel?"  
  
Rocky's first reaction to Alice's outrageous comment was to laugh out loud, but something stopped him from doing that, although he didn't know what. Instead he took his time, and thought about whether he truly believed in angels, and if so whether Alice qualified to be one. Finally after what seemed like hours of continuous thought, he nodded his head and said sagely,  
  
"Yeah. yeah, I think I would. You've got that... I don't know, some kind of inner light. Like the elves in Lord of the Rings. Plus the fact that no-one human could possibly want to spend time with this family on New Year's Eve if they weren't part of it. You must have been sent on some sort of divine mission."  
  
Alice laughed merrily, all awkwardness dispelled. "I guess that's one way of putting it. But you're right, we do have some sort of etheral quality, us angels. That's what makes us so distinctive in a crowd."  
  
"You'd make an excellent tour guide," Rocky joked. "All your tourists would be able to see you wherever you go."  
  
"Maybe one day... Rocky, do you have any idea why I'm here?" Alice asked.  
  
"Can I be perfectly honest and say that I don't have a clue?"   
  
Alice sighed. "You and you friends are going to drive me insane; this is the third time I've had to explain my presence in the space of thirty minutes. Don't ask, I'll tell you in a minute-" she warned, seeing Rocky open his mouth to enquire about whom else she had visited that night. "I am here to offer you the chance to go back into the past, maybe rewrite some wrongs you regret, maybe relive the best day of your life. But it can only be for a maximum of 24 hours, and then you'll have to make the biggest decision of your existence. Whether to stay in the new life we created, or to come back to this life because you don't like the consequences."  
  
"Like I'd really want to come back to this life," Rocky scoffed, but Alice cautioned,  
  
"I wouldn't be surprised. Not all the changes in your life are made for the better."  
  
"So, 24 hours, yeah? No more, no less?" he questioned.  
  
"Barring any heavenly screwups, that's right. Any thoughts on your feet as to where you want to go will be gratefully appreciated, I still have 2 more people to see before the clock strikes midnight," Alice pressured.  
  
There was no doubt in his mind. Not with the random thoughts that had been spiralling in his mind during his babysitting stint that night. Thinking about Isabella, and how much she looked like Rosa. About how he'd shirked his responsibilities when he was younger.  
  
And now he had a chance to see whether he could make things better. Be a better person...  
  
"I want to go back to 1994. I want..." Rocky took a deep breath, then somewhat shakily continued his sentence. "I don't want to abandon my daughter again."  
  
Alice raised an eyebrow, but said nothing about the revelation. Being an angel, she'd already known where he would want to visit, and what he would want to change.  
  
"Any particular time you want to go to, or anywhere in 1994?"  
  
Rocky sighed, trying desperately to think when would be the best time to visit. "Um... anytime, really. Just... make sure it's after she's arrived, not before."  
  
Alice stared at him, a strange expression on her face, then finally said, "Okay then. I'll see what I can do... just drink some of this orange juice and you'll be right there... wherever 'there' may be."  
  
She procured the now-famous bottle of orange liquid, seemingly out of nowhere, and gave it, along with the spoon she had never given back at the hospital, to Rocky. "Drink up."  
  
"Are you sure this is fresh?" Rocky asked, looking at the liquid resting like an ink blob on his spoon. "It looks to me like it's been marinading for centuries."  
  
"I said it was orange, as in the colour, and I said it was juice, which it is, of sorts anyway. I never said it was freshly squeezed and made from the finest Florida citrus fruits."  
  
He made a face, but drank...  
  
*****  
  
24th August, 1994  
Stone Canyon  
  
Opening his eyes after a seemingly restful night, Rocky noticed many things about his new surroundings.  
  
a) He was back in his old, 15 year old's self, bedroom.  
  
b) His mother was outside the door, screaming at him in Spanish to get up and come downstairs for breakfast.  
  
c) He had no idea what to do with his second chance.  
  
Some may have found it strange that Rocky, typical blabbermouth, had kept his daughter a secret for so many years, even from Aisha and Adam, his so-called best friends. It had been remarkably easy when push came to shove, however.  
  
His girlfriend Emilia hadn't gone to Stone Canyon High. She hadn't gone to a High School at all. She was the sister of his older brother's girlfriend, and they'd met, strangely enough, at the family reunion which was held every New Year's Eve.  
  
_I'd almost forgotten that,_ Rocky reflected. _Nine years ago today...well, today in the real world. If there is such thing as a real world anymore.. oh god. What am I supposed to do now?_  
  
*Well, getting your lazy self out of bed would make a nice start to the day,* came a voice from somewhere inside his head. *Your mother's been calling for ten minutes, and even jet lag won't be a popular excuse as she saw you go to bed last night.*  
  
Rocky perked up at the sound of Alice's voice. _Alice? You're inside my head? Can you tell me where my dressing gown is?_  
  
Alice, from wherever she was in the vast universe, rolled her eyes. *It's hanging on the hook of your door, which you would know if you bothered to open your eyes and look for yourself. Now go on, scoot!*  
  
_I'm going, I'm going. But... before I do, any advice you can give me? You know, with regards to my second chance?_  
  
*No. I'm not allowed... now go!*  
  
Rubbing his eyes which were filled with sleep, and making a somewhat half hearted attempt to tame his sticking-up hair, Rocky put on the errant dressing gown and stumbled down the stairs. He really wasn't in the mood for a family breakfast, or indeed a family day. From the shining sun outside he would hazard a guess that Alice had placed him slap-bang in the middle of summer, which meant no excuse of school to go and try to find Emilia. And Rocky seemed to recollect that his mother wasn't exactly happy about the situation he had found himself in...  
  
*****  
  
*4.30pm*  
  
Almost half the day had passed, and no opportunity whatsoever to escape the wrath of his mother and try to find Emilia and Rosa. None whatsoever.  
  
First there had been the "You got yourself into this mess, go and mow the lawn."  
  
Then there was washing the dishes, sweeping the floor, and basically carrying out all the chores that his other siblings had avoided over the past, well, decade. And what worried him the most, was that Alice wasn't responding to any of his urgent mind-messages.  
  
_One more try for good luck couldn't hurt,_ he thought to himself while polishing the steel cutlery. _ALICE?? Are you there?_  
  
*Of course I'm, here, where else would I be?* she asked, disgruntledly. *And what do you want this time?*  
  
_You weren't there the last 50 times I tried to call you. That's what.*  
  
*Hang on... Rocky, what time is it where you are?*  
  
Rocky, worried by Alice's sudden turn of panic, checked his watch. _4.35pm, why?_  
  
*Oh, no.... something's gone wrong with the time! It's 11 in Trini's time, 2pm in Tanya's and 4pm in yours! You all transported at pretty much the same time...*  
  
Rocky let out a sudden yelp of fear. _So you mean I could be stuck in this world forever until you figure out what's wrong with this whole time-turning system? I always knew I shouldn't have trusted you._  
  
*I'm going to have to check with my boss. Keep cleaning the cutlery, and don't panic. Just take any chance you get to escape and find Emilia! I don't know how long you've got left.*  
  
Rocky felt a sudden 'pop' in his head, and realised that Alice's guidance had left him. What was he going to do now?  
  
He cleaned a few other items of cutlery, then threw them down. Even if he didn't look it, wasn't anything more than a teenager in this world, he was still an adult where it counted, inside. He was just going to have to find Emilia without his mother's permission.  
  
"Mama? I'm going out. Expect me when you see me.."  
  
  
*5.30pm*  
  
Without wheels to transport him on a hot summer's day, Rocky had found his pace getting slower and slower as he approached the northern side of Stone Canyon, where Emilia and Rosa lived. There was that, and the thoughts that were rumbling in his head, which slowed his pace.  
  
His mother had wanted Rocky to take Rosa into the family and raise her as if she were her own. His father, however, objected to that idea, reasonably pointing out that Carmella hadn't been pregnant for eight months (Rosa had been a month premature) and people were bound to have their suspicions when a baby arrived home.  
  
So that idea went out of the window. And Emilia had taken Rosa back to their family home.  
  
The date today was August 24. Roughly speaking, it had been two weeks since Rocky had seen Emilia last. He had given her money, but she had told him tersely that she didn't want it.  
  
"You're only a little boy Rocky, you're younger than me and you don't know what it is to be a father." The younger part was true, she had been eighteen to his fifteen. But he knew how to look after babies, hadn't his family got enough of them?  
  
"I can give you money..."  
  
"We don't need money. We're earning enough to get by."  
  
Even allowing for use of the royal 'we', Rocky seriously doubted that Rosa was being put to work just yet. So there had to be another guy in the picture.  
  
There was, it turned out. A man who was living his life, thinking merrily that he was the biological father of Rosa.  
  
And now, the confrontation would begin...  
  
Rocky knocked on the front door of the Dominguez family home. He had never been particularly well received here, and after finding about the 'other man', he knew why.  
  
And although he knocked for what seemed to be hours, there was no answer. No sign of movement inside the house, no twitching of the curtains.  
  
The dead giveaway was the lack of Rosa's crying. Whenever Rocky had knocked on the door before (which, granted, had only been at the most, four times,) Rosa had started crying as though she were a foghorn that never intended to stop.   
  
_Alice? Where are they? Where have they gone?_ Rocky asked desperately.  
  
He could hear her sighing. *I'm sorry Rocky.... we've screwed up, big time. They moved house sometime last week, and I have no way of getting you to where they've gone. Not with my limitations as they are, trying to sort out the times... I'm really sorry.*  
  
Rocky continued to gaze at the empty house. Finally, he gained enough composure to ask a question of Alice. _Why didn't she tell me? I would have... I don't know what I would have done, but this way I'm sat here doing nothing at all. I don't like it._  
  
*Because her boyfriend still believed that Rosa was his, and she didn't want to lose him, as a father to her child,* Alice said gently. *Do you remember when I said you'd already seen Rosa but hadn't recognised her? She was with her father, walking down the streets of LA when you were there on business earlier this year.*  
  
He sighed, coming to terms with the fact that he was going to have to put this life behind him. That his daughter was, once again, out of his reach, and this time probably for good. _So, fix-it angel girl, what am I supposed to do now that we've screwed everything up?_  
  
*I really am sorry, Rocky. I wish we could have got you there.... but as for now, just go home, and I'll try to get you back home while you're sleeping. If, of course, that's what you want...*  
  
Rocky sighed, and started walking, finally peeling himself away from the house where once his daughter had lived.  
  
_Sometimes second chances really don't work... I shouldn't have been so hasty when I said I wouldn't want to return to my old life. One day I'll have another child, and I swear I'll get it right this time..._ 


	5. Tommy

Second Chances #5: Tommy  
  
Author: hanspam  
  
Disclaimer: Alice is mine, the rest are someone else's. Saban? Disney? Does it look as though I know?  
  
Author's Notes: This chapter took a while.. sorry. I've been busy collecting exam results, working and the like. Hopefully the next two chapters will be up before too long.  
  
This New Year's Eve was just the same as anybody else's.  
  
Sitting in a bar, a half-drunk pint of beer placed before him, Tommy Oliver could almost believe that life would, one day, become normal again.  
  
Again? Maybe that was the wrong choice of word. Nothing in his life so far could be legitimately described as 'normal'.  
  
Having a father who was a high-ranking Army officer wasn't run-of-the-mill. Until he was nearly 16, the Oliver family had never stayed in one place for more than two years.  
  
Maybe there were many people who shared his position in life - so far. When you introduced being turned evil and being instructed to aid the destruction of the world by an evil empress... that tended to rule out practically every other person he knew. And a whole lot of other people whom he'd never met.  
  
Then, being invited, still as a teenager, to become one of a group of superheroes whose main objective was to defeat the very evil empress who had placed him under a spell, brought him peers who shared his experiences of dealing with aliens.  
  
Aliends whom many other people in Angel Grove didn't even believe in - despite frequent visual evidence to the contrary.  
  
While he was a member of the Power Rangers, life was... was good the right word to describe it? he wouldn't call the battles that occured almost daily 'good' - painful was a much better synonym. For the first time in his life, Tommy had had a group of friends who he could rely on, and in one of them, his first serious girlfriend, for whome he would do anything. And he thought she felt the same.  
  
A year and a half later, when Kim moved away and subsequently broke up with him, was the beginning of the end of the good times.  
  
That wasn't to say he hadn't cared deeply for Katherine when they had dated. For a while it had begun to feel as though, maybe, life would go on after all.  
  
And then things went wrong for them, as well.  
  
Since their break-up - almost seven years ago now, although it didn't feel that long ago - Tommy had dated a few women, even seriously considered spending the rest of his life with one of them. The problem came with the inevitable questions about his teenage years. What exactly was he supposed to say in reply to questions on extracurricular activities?  
  
"Before I graduated high school, I'd held three different superpowers, and been the leader of the Power Rangers for two years. Oh, and occasionally I played football."  
  
"My grade point average was lower than it should have been because, instead of doing homework or studying for tests, I was either fighting monsters or practising self-defense techniques. You played hockey? Well, that's almost the same..."  
  
Somehow it didn't make for dinnertable conversation.  
  
As he sat at the bar, Tommy wasn't thinking about any of the women in his life that got away. He was thinking along the usual lines that occupied his mind whenever he'd had a drink or two.  
  
How had he allowed himself to become evil? When he had been attacked that fateful day behind the Youth centre, why hadn't he been a bona fide martial artist and been on his guard?  
  
He hadn't paid much attention to his fellow drinkers that evening. Despite his morose mood, he had managed to drag himself away from his apartment, so at least he would be in the company of other people when the clock struck midnight.  
  
It came as a sudden shock to him when he vaguely heard someone approach him, and a female voice say lightheartedly,  
  
"You weren't on your guard because you'd just won a martial arts tournament. I imagine you'd thought the fighting was over, and you weren't really expecting a cavalry of beings made of clay to attack you and transport you to the moon. Not many people would."  
  
He had expected the person speaking to him to be the bartender, perhaps handing out free drinks to celebrate the beginning of a new year. He hadn't been prepared for a complete stranger to provide the answer to the rhetorical question he had mentally been asking himself.  
  
Especially if, in his heart, he knew that the answer the stranger provided was true.  
  
Alcohol had slightly loosened Tommy's tongue, so instead of using the hushed tones reserved for discussing Ranger business in public, he told the woman in his normal voice, "Yeah, that was my problem back then. Young, naive, and totally unprepared for monster attacks by aliens with a personal vendetta against me."  
  
He didn't even question who Alice - for it was she- was, or how she knew what he had been thinking. He was edging his way towards the blissful state of drunken-ness where you accept anything that is thrown your way without question.  
  
Alice, being an angel, was aware of how humans react to alcohol, but wasn't quite sure how she was supposed to prise a prime second-chance moment out of him.  
  
It was obvious defending himself against the putties, Rita, and other evil enemies the first time he faced them would be a definite contender. But how could she be sure. Could she risk telling him here, in a crowded bar with plenty of other people present, that she was an angel, without him causing a scene and aiding her discovery?  
  
Alice was only a novice angel, and to be perfectly honest, she couldn't risk anything going wrong which would result in her being demoted or punished in any way.  
  
In life, she had been headstrong, and she quickly decided it would be handy to use this quality in the afterlife as well.  
  
"Don't you ever wish you could go back and beat the crap out of your... adversaries? That first time you saw them?"  
  
Tommy looked at her blearily, not quite seeing her for who she was, but not totally ignorant either. There was definitely something different about her, but he put it down to alcohol impaired vision and concentrated instead on answering her question. "Do I _ever_ wish I could do that? I wish it all the time. But there's nothing I can do to change the past, so I have to go on living for the future," he said philosophically.  
  
"Right..." Alice queried skeptically. "And is this you or the drink talking? Come on, don't tell me that if you got a chance to go back and redeem yourself, you'd say no?"  
  
"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Tommy asked suddenly, after about ten seconds of tense silence.  
  
Alice shook her head at him, and signalled the bartender. "Never mind." The bartender came quickly to Alice's aid - helped in no small part by her looks - and she said, "Could you please ge me a glass of ice cubes? My friend here has a fever, and he could do with cooling down."  
  
The man gave her a strange look, but complied with Alice's unusual request. he brought a tall glass filled with ice to the pair, and said, smiling, "No charge, little lady."  
  
Alice hadn't even thought of methods of payment, although she supposed Tommy must have a wallet somewhere, but didn't let her relief should outwardly. "Thank you very much," she said to the barman, (who, incidentally, still tells stories about the gorgeous woman on New Year's Eve who asked for a glass of ice. None of his friends believe him.)  
  
She pulled the glass toward her, and shook a few drops of her now infamous liquid into the glass.  
  
"Sure you don't want any whisky with that?" Tommy asked curiously. "That stuff doesn't look suitable for frogs, let lone humans."  
  
In what felt like a weird game of pass-the-glass, Alice slid the glass a few centimentres along the bar so it rested in front of her companion. "You need to wait until the ice has mostly melted, and then drink it all."  
  
He looked suspiciously at her. "Will it stop me having a hangover in the morning?"  
  
Alice smiled to himself. If only he knew... "I can practically guarantee it."  
  
"And what's in it?"  
  
"It tastes of aniseed, but believe me. If you drink it, it'll do you the world of good."  
  
Another pause, and Alice surreptitiously crossed her fingers, hoping he would get on with it so she could go and find the last of her charges.  
  
She heard him mutter, "Oh, what the hell," and in a flash, the liquid was gone.  
  
Moments later, so were they.  
  
******  
  
Because Tommy had no preparation for what happened after the liquid was consumed, he was more than a little shocked to find himself in his old bed in his parents house in Angle Grove. He sat up, absently running a hand through tousled hair, and noticed it was considerably shorter than it had been only moments ago.  
  
What was happening to him? "I know I'm drunk, but I didn't think I was _this_ drunk."  
  
A female voice inside his head made him jump so high he nearly hit his head on the ceiling. "Tommy, it's Alice."  
  
Time to panic. "Who?"  
  
"The woman at the bar who made you drink poison."  
  
"That was poison?" Tommy almost yelled.  
  
"Would you have drunk it if I'd told you? Listen to me before you start yelling again and wake your parents up.  
  
"You've been given 24 hours back to have a second chance. To change anything in your life you wish could have happened differently. You were supposed to choose this time yourself, but considering you were well on the way to becoming paralytic, I didn't quite trust you not to make a scene when I told you I was an angel."  
  
"An angel is giving me a second chance in life," Tommy rephrased cautiously. "So you chose for me? Where am I? How did you know?"  
  
"I didn't have much to go on, so I chose the period of time that you were moaning about when I met you."  
  
He closed his eyes as events began to dawn on him. "The karate tournament."  
  
"If you defeat the Putties and any other adversary Rita cares to throw at you, it may make the decision you'll have to make after 24 hours are up a little easier for you."  
  
Tommy was slowly beginning to get the hang of this plan. "So I'll basically have to choose between lives. How is that supposed to work?"  
  
"I don't have the time to explain, Tommy, I'm sorry. I'll be back after the day's up for your decision. And don't feel you're alone in this. Trini, Kim, Rocky and Tanya are getting second chances as well."  
  
Tommy's mouth gaped open until he began to look like a fish.  
  
"You'd better get some sleep, the tournament begins in about eleven hours, and if you don't reach the final you'll probably miss out on meeting the friends of your opponent.  
  
You can call me for help, but I have 4 other people to shepherd, so don't expect a rapid response rate, okay?"  
  
And with that, it was almost as though a radio had been switched off; a tiny click sounded somewhere in his head, and Alice was gone.  
  
Time to face the reality? The challenge? The second chance that the day held.  
  
And if, as he very much suspected, Alice was right, and he did have to take part in the karate tournament for the sonc time tomorrow...  
  
Well, he'd better get some shut-eye.  
  
******  
  
Breakfast that Saturday morning was a quiet affair, aminly because Tommy was unsure as to whether significant events in his family life had occured yet, and so couldn't make reference to them in case he aroused suspicion. He made polite conversation about the weather and the forthcoming tournament, but omitting that, he was the same quiet person he had been before making the friends who had changed his life in so many ways.  
  
A few hours later, and he was standing in the familiar surroundings of Angel Grove Youth Centre. It was eerie to see a younger version of Jason warming upin a distant corner of the hall; when you see someone regularly you don't notice how they age until the evidence is presented to you. It was even stranger to think that in this universe they'd never exchanged words, never become friends or shared experiences... yet.  
  
He risked a look at the sidelines, where the meagre group of spectators were sitting or standing. It didn't take him long to pick out faces who were familiar to him; Zack, Kim, Billy and Trini were among the people gathered in the Youth centre, looking a lot younger than he remembered them the first time they met.  
  
There was no point in thinking any more about all the experiences the group of friends had shared; in this strange, parallel world the events hadn't occured yet, and he hadn't officially met them yet.  
  
Or exchanged blows with Jason, in either a martial arts sense or good- versus-evil sense. One way or another, that was all about to change...  
  
The competition went according to plan - that is, it was almost identical to the one he had participated in many years ago. He met Jason in the final and won, but only narrowly, remembering the skills that he had left alone for almost seven years. The event also served to remind Tommy that Jason was the most talented opponent he'd faced in years of competitive martial arts.  
  
The two shook hands after the fight, a gesture that was not required but was more of a pleasantry, without exchanging words. Tommy was vaguely reminded that they had spoken after the 'real' fight, but was too nervous about stepping outside the Youth Centre in a few minutes time to make converstion.  
  
As expected, Jason walked over to join Trini, Kim, Zack and Billy, and Tommy walked alone to the locker rooms. He planned to take his time in showering and changing so there would be noboody left in the vicinity to witness the attack he wassure would take place sooner or later.  
  
He had showered and was just pulling on a clean tshirt when the door swung open and Jason walked in.  
  
On seeing Tommy, Jason grinned and said, "Hey, good match out there. I haven't met you before, are you new around here?"  
  
Tommy nodded as he put his dirty clothes into a sports bag and zipped it shut. "Yeah, my parents just moved here. I start Angel Grove High next week."  
  
Jason nodded approvingly. "That's cool, you'll like it. Good sports facilities and the teachers are mainly alright. You'll have to keep an eye out for me on Monday, I'll show you around."  
  
Tommy was gratified by the unprovoked act of kindness. "Thanks, man. You'll be the only person I know there, I haven't really had the chance to meet anyone yet."  
  
"You won't be on your own for long, I can tell you that much," Jason promised as he slammed his locker shut and grabbed his own bag. "I've got to run, but I'll look out for you on Monday and introduce you to a few people."  
  
"Thanks," Tommy called after the retreating figure of Jason, and then checked his watch. It was twenty-five minutes after the tournament had ended. This should mean that, although there would still be people around, there would not be the onslaught of exiting spectators that would have awaited him had he left fifteen minutes ago.  
  
'Why am I so nervous about this?' he thought as he pushed the locker-roon door open and entered the expansive area of the Youth Centre.  
  
'It's not as though I haven't faced a few Putties before. Compared to almost every other opponent the Rangers have faces, Rita's Putties were nothing more than an annoying fly that kept travelling through your line of sight no matter how many times you tried to swat it away.'  
  
His interesting analogy came abruptly to an end when he turned a corner, intending to make his way home, and was faced by at least twenty Putties, and the rturn of an old friend who _hadn't_ been sorely missed, Goldar.  
  
"Did you think that a little delaying tactic would make us go away?" Goldar sneered from his commandeering position standing in front of an army of Putties.  
  
"Uh-oh. It looked as though someone was on to Alice's inter-galactic time- swapping scheme.  
  
"What the hell are you talking about, Goldar?" a voice snarled. Tommy barely had time to remember that he wasn't supposed to know his name, before it registered that it hadn't been him who had spoken.  
  
He turned around and came face to face with the original Rangers. "It'll be alright," the Yellow ranger said placatingly. "Just stay behind us and don't get involved with anything."  
  
Although it was physically hurting him not to take pat in the fight between the Rangers and Putties, Tommy quietly withdrew to the airconditioned haven of the Youth Centre and waited.  
  
And waited.  
  
Finally, he decided that his parents were going to roast him alive if he weren't home within twenty minutes, and got up from his table to leave, when Jason, Billy, Kim, Zack and Trini hurried in, out of uniform and out of breath.  
  
Jason strode over to where Tommy was standing and stopped directly in front of him. "You know?" he said incredulously.  
  
There was no point in denying it. "I know."  
  
"How?" Zack asked curiously. "Jason said you told him you only just moved here."  
  
"Wait a minute, let's move out to the hall. No-one ever goes out there at this time," Trini advised.  
  
Once the six of them were assembled in the hall, Tommy had made his decision to go for broke and tell them the truth. He had tried to ask Alice - in his head, of course - whether this would be okay, but there had been no response.  
  
"This is going to sound very strange, but I need you all to listen to me with open minds," Tommy pleaded with them. "If you don't believe me, then that's fine. But you deserve to be told the truth."  
  
Five gazes were fixed unerringly on him, and this made Tommy feel more than a little uncomfortable.  
  
"I've been sent here for a second chance; I'm from ten years in the future, and when the tournament happened in my universe, I was kidnapped by Rita Repulsa and turned into the evil Green Ranger."  
  
If that didn't get their full attention, then nothing would. And he was gratified to see that some of the looks of disbelief on the other faces were gradually disappearing.  
  
Over the next few minutes he told the full story of his time as a Ranger. The roster changes, the switches between different sources of power, all up until his eventual retirement as a ranger.  
  
For a few tense moments after the end of his monologue, noody spoke. Finally, jason turned to Billy and asked,  
  
"Billy, do you have any idea at all whether this is possible? In a scientific sense, could the story be true?"  
  
Billy coughed, and adjusted his glasses. "The situation he has described is feasible, but I am yet to become convinced. Nothing of a personal nature, you comprehend, merely a natural defense mechanism."  
  
"He says it's possible, but he's not sure, although don't take it personally," Trini translated automatically, unaware of the fact that Tommy had understood what Billy had said.  
  
"Shouldn't we ask Zordon? Kim suggested, speaking for the first time, even though Tommy had noticed her sneaking a few glances at him when she thought he wasn't looking. "If what Tommy says is true, then Zordon will know and it won't matter. If it isn't true, then we could work something out."  
  
"It's the only way to know for sure," Zack agreed. "Jase, what do - "  
  
"Let's go," he said tersely, and in a flash of multi-coloured light they disappeared.  
  
******  
  
The Command Centre was its normal reassuring self, but what Tommy was defiitely not prepared for was to find Alice standing next to Alpha-5 and talking to Zordon as though they were best buddies.  
  
"Ah, Rangers, I was beginning to wonder when you would return," Zordon greeted them.  
  
"Zordon, is all of what Tommy says true?"  
  
"As far as it is possible for me to discern, Tommy's story is true. Alpha- 5 has run some tests and found a discrepancy in time occuring on December 31st, 2003."  
  
"Tommy, you have to make a decision quickly," Alice murmured to him as Alpha-5 and Billy discussed the adjusted time hole. "I can wipe your memory, and theirs too if I have to, but there's no way you'll be able to live out the remaining time. There have been all sorts of problems with the time scale, and you're gonna have to make a decision now."  
  
"What decision?" Zack asked curiously, having heard the last part of Alice's speech.  
  
"Whether to return to my old life or stay here in the new one," Tommy mumbled under his breath, while still thinking hard.  
  
What on earth was he going to do? In the background, he dimly heard questions being posed to Alice about the concept of second chances.  
  
He finally raised his head after several minutes of hard thinking, and saw Jason' walking over to him.  
  
"Any idea what you're going to do?" he asked sympathetically.  
  
Tommy awkwardly scratched the back of his neck and sighed. "Yeah, I think I have."  
  
Alice turned from a deeply scientific conversation with Billy and Trini, and hearing Tommy's words, gently prompted, "You have? What have you - No, wait." She turned to the group of teenagers and said apologetically. "I'm sorry, but I have to do this, even if you are superheroes. Angel protocol." She concentrated, clicked her fingers while the assembled group looked on bemusedly, and then the five Rangers stopped moving, blinking, or even breathing.  
  
She turned back to Tommy, who was staring at his friends in amazement. "They'll wake up and it will be this morning. They won't even remember meeting you, but they'll meet you again just the same."  
  
"We are not affected by Alice's magic, Tommy," Zordon informed him. "We will always remember this second chance, but neither I nor Alpha-5 can advise you on which choice to make."  
  
Tommy swallowed hard, aware that his mouth had turned the texture of sandpaper, and moved his gaze from Zordon to Alice. "I'm ready..." 


	6. Tanya

Author's Note #1:Oh my god, she lives!!!!!!!! Or rather, this fiction lives. I don't really need to tell anyone that knows me that I have exams to revise for, and am putting it off by writing. It's what I do.  
  
Can I be perfectly honest? I have never seen a full PR episode with Tanya in, only T:APRM and I'm not sure that was the best example of her character. I've had to draw on various interpretations of her character for this chapter, and I'm aware a lot of the plot doesn't fit with the show. But hey, I never claimed to be normal.  
  
And I know the formatting's weird. Blame the antique that is my computer.  
******  
Everyone knows my story. My reason to deserve a second chance.  
  
Or at least, they think they do.  
  
According to, ooh, every other person living on this planet, I am destined to end up marrying Adam Park, having adorable babies, and living happily ever after. If I were given a second chance, ninety-nine people out of a hundred would have me running after Adam and begging him not to be a stuntman, but to go to New York with me.  
  
Congratulations to everyone who didn't have me playing the romantic heroine. You figured me out better than those who know me, even if it was only a lucky guess.  
  
*****  
  
I can imagine telling this story to my grandchildren, if I have any. I'll be sitting by a roaring fireplace, if they actually have any in California, with several toddlers at my knee. One of them will ask innocently if I ever met a superhero, or a monster, or something that only toddlers and certain people in the know believe in. I'll smile and say to them,  
  
"Grandma believes in superheroes, monsters and angels. You should too."  
  
Why did I add angels into the equation? It may have something to do with the angel standing beside me, staring in a know-it-all way at me as I try to keep my emotions in check.  
  
I have no doubt that she's an angel. In fact, I'm damn certain that she's not of this earth. No human I've met has managed to infuriate me as much within five minutes of meeting them.  
  
It all started with a tap on my knee. Which was faintly surprising, seeing as there was no-one else in the house, and I don't have any pets to jump up and cause me unnecessary alarm. So, I look up and find this shining deity beside me, although she looks a little flustered to be an angel. I was brought up to believe that angels have infinite patience, but they'd obviously never met Alice.  
  
"I'm Alice, you're Tanya Sloan, ex-Power Ranger, now singing in a bar at Angel Grove after failing to launch your career in New York. Can you please choose a day in your life you'd like to change in, ooh, ten seconds?"  
  
Stop.  
  
What??????????  
  
I hadn't quite figured out she was an angel yet. I thought she was some drunken intruder who was destined for the funny farm, but how did she know my name? More to the point, how did she know who I'd been?  
  
My emotions must have played out over my face, because she pulled a spectacularly strange face at me, tutted, and told me, "I'm an angel, I know everything about you, but you have to choose a day in your life that you'd like to relive. You and a few of your buddies have built up a few... credits, shall we say, for all your do-gooding over the years. This is the celestial way of saying thank you."  
  
*****  
  
Neither of us have said anything since, except for me asking Alice to be still and keep quiet more times than should be necessary, and that was at least three minutes ago. I've sat, perfectly still, trying to work things out in my head although thoughts keep slipping in from nowhere and stealing my concentration. Alice, however, has been wriggling, tutting, and shifting from side to side as I try and make my mind up as to whether I really do want to rescue my sister from wherever she may be.  
  
I've never met Michelle. Although she's my sister, I sometimes forget that she exists, and live my life as an only child. Why shouldn't I? I have the undivided attention of my parents, and I've never lived with her, I've never shared clothes or experiences with her.  
  
I've never heard her speak my name.  
  
Michelle Sloan was thirteen when she left home. My mother and father told her that she was going to have a baby sibling, a kind of miracle as my parents weren't as young as they used to be. I don't think I'm all that terrifying, but the thought of having to share her parents with a squawling baby was apparently enough for her to behave so badly my father eventually sent her to live with a distant aunt in a tribe two settlements away. I was born, my mother asked her if she wanted to come back home, and she declined. She stayed with Aunt Lillian ever since.  
  
Since then, she's become a kind of legend in our family. When we were still in Africa, my parents went to visit her occasionally, but Michelle never wanted to see me. They asked her to come to America with us, to make a fresh start, and according to my aunt, she almost accepted. Then she changed her mind and said no. She writes to my parents but never mentions my name.  
  
Breaking the awkward silence as an idea takes shape in my confused mind, I ask an ever-impatient Alice,  
  
"What if.... what if it were a day you hadn't lived? Could you somehow manipulate a person's mind into making them do or feel differently?"  
  
Alice's eyes dawn in recognition, and she says softly, "Of course, your sister."  
  
I nod, disconcerted that this annoying woman knows my every thought, probably knew the decision I was to make before she entered my apartment. "I want to know if I can change her mind about me. I don't know why she never wanted to meet me, but if I can subconsciously try to convince her that I'm not all that bad..."  
  
"Then you could grow up with a sister," Alice finishes for me, and I nod in agreement. "I could try for you, Tanya, but I'm a trainee angel, and I've never heard of this being done before. If it goes wrong... well, enough tonight has gone wrong already, and you would probably lose your second chance altogether. There's no time left to give you another."  
  
"What's gone wrong?" I ask, and a question occurs to me that I can't believe I ignored earlier. "Who else has been given a second chance?"  
  
"Trini, Kim, Tommy and Rocky. But time is moving in different speeds for all of them, and they won't all get 24 hours to relive before they make their decision. I don't think I can risk the damage a subconscious permutation would cause if it went wrong, Tanya, I'm sorry."  
  
"Okay...." I say slowly, strangely angry that now I will have to meet this sister, meet my flesh and blood who has rejected me for all my life. What will I say? Will she tell me why she never wanted to see me, never mentioned me in any of her letters?  
  
Should I be choosing a reconciliation with Adam instead?  
  
This thought hits me like a bolt of lightening from nowhere, and startles me with the impact it has.  
  
Adam and I parted mutually; neither of us wanted to commit, or be in a long- distance relationship. With his stunt work meaning he was in California for half the time, and my singing keeping me in New York all year round, we would never see each other. Yet it was hard maintaining relationships with people who hadn't held superpowers. They would never know the nightmares that only happened rarely but shocked me to my very soul. The feelings that sprung up at inopportune moments to remind me there was so much more I could have done in the earth's fight against good and evil. When Adam and I were together, we could share and discuss these feelings. With Roy, Steve, Josh... that was impossible. I had to invent a recurring dream about falling to disguise bad nights of sleep.  
  
"Think clearly, Tanya," Alice urges softly, and I get the feeling that she's reading my mind. Again. "You could telephone Adam and talk to him any time to find where you stand after all this time. When will you get the opportunity to meet Michelle on your own terms without causing guaranteed hassle and spending outrageous amounts of money on a plane ticket?"  
  
The girl makes sense, I have to admit. "How can I relive this? I've never had an encounter with her to relive. I'm not even sure I want to see her if she's going to shut me out again."  
  
Alice shrugged. "This is only a suggestion, but - " she broke off, and tilted her head as if listening to a voice in her head. After a few unique expressions crossed her face, she turned back to me and spoke rapidly. "Look. My only suggestion is that I send you back to the day you left Africa for the United States. Write a letter for Michelle and ask Aisha to make sure it reaches the tribe your aunt's family belong to. To be honest, it's all you'll have time to do before I have to send you back."  
  
This suggestion sounds plausible, but - "What if she doesn't get the letter? How am I going to know when she gets the letter? I presume after this I'll have to decide which of the two alternate lives I go back to. How will I know if I don't even know if she got the letter?"  
  
"I will know," Alice said softly, so quietly I wasn't even sure if I'd heard her correctly. "The others don't know this, and I have no idea why I'm telling you out of all of them, because I don't even think you like me all that much, but -"  
  
"I do like you. Your fidgeting got on my nerves, that's all," I hasten to reassure her. She's not all that bad, once you get past the badgering to hurry up, and the fact that she holds my future in her tiny hands.  
  
She smiles. "Thanks, you're not all that bad yourself, although whichever life you go to, sort it out with Adam or you'll be a spinster with several Alsatians. From the mouth of one who knows!" she says to make me realise that she's probably right. "Once the time is up for all six of you, I will, or should have, the ability to know how each of your lives will turn out, barring natural weather phenomena such as earthquakes. I shouldn't give any of you any guidance to which choice would be better to make, but because you'll only have about ten minutes in the alternate world, and won't even see the person you're trying to make amends with, I should be able to sort out a way to aid you."  
  
"You'd do that for me? Even after I yelled at you and asked you to stop moving or I'd put you in a noose to keep you still?"  
  
So I may have slightly under-estimated my asking her to be still and quiet earlier. I was stressed, okay? It's not every day that an angel comes along and offers you a second chance.  
  
Alice smiled. "I was a lot like you when I was, you know, alive. Forthright and pissed off when anyone annoyed me."  
  
Can't really argue with that.  
  
From nowhere she brings out a vial of what can only be described as bright green sludge. I notice immediately that it's half-full, and pity my friends who have already had to drink the vial's contents. "Drink a spoonful of this. I'll send you back to the day you left Africa. Your mind will be as you are now; so you'll know exactly what you need to do. Just write a short letter giving Michelle the name of the town you'll be living in, and asking her to write to you, or whatever. Do what the hell you like, but you won't have time to do more than that."  
  
I nod, slightly apprehensive regarding the task that I am about to carry out. For so many years, I wondered about the sister we left behind, or the sister that left us behind, I should say. Now, finally, I am to have the opportunity to find out what happened, and if there could be any chance of reconciliation.  
  
And I have to drink a spoonful of seaweed to get there.  
  
*****  
  
This is distinctly underwhelming.  
  
I expected to land flat on my face, or at least land in an unattended bucket of water. Instead it's as though my head has suddenly cleared after suffering a headache, and I can see without a fog blurring my vision.  
  
I look down at myself, remembering vividly how awkward I felt at sixteen. My mind is older now, and I can see I wasn't all that bad. Clear skin, hair slightly on the frizzy side of course, but this was before America and my discovery of straighteners. Nothing to complain overly about, of course.  
  
I remember why I am here, and quickly stop staring out of the ramshackle door, struggling to find a piece of paper and a pen in my packed rucksack that lays on the floor behind me. It takes me many precious moments to find these vital implements, and many more to know what to write.  
  
I have no idea what to write.  
  
Should I be jokey? "Hey sis, mind explaining why you've never wanted to see me, never wanted to hear my name spoken?"  
  
Serious? "Michelle, we really need to make contact. We're both grown-ups now, surely we should at least meet?"  
  
Finally, I come to my senses and begin scribbling. As quickly as I can, writing my jumbled up thoughts on a crumpled piece of paper, and aware that they make no sense whatsoever, I write until Alice's voice in my head startles me and prepares me for the fact that I have to leave in a minute.  
  
Sixty seconds to say goodbye.  
  
There is no time to look over the hastily written letter, but the words will stay with me forever. It was more apologetic, more sorry for myself than I would have liked, but there was no time to change it. The words would have to stay the same.  
  
*****  
  
Dear Michelle,  
  
It's your sister Tanya. I don't know if my aunt told you but today is the day I move to America and I can't go without saying goodbye. Or should that be hello? We've never met, after all.  
  
No-one's ever told me why you never wanted to see me or speak to me. Was it something I did wrong? My - our - parents said you needed a change of scene, to live with different people, but I can't understand why you wouldn't meet me, just once. Did you really hate me so much?  
  
We're probably different people now. I don't think we'll ever have a close relationship, but I would really like to hear from you, even if it's to tell me you never want to hear from me again.  
  
I'm moving to a town in California called Angel Grove. An American girl, Aisha, is with our parents tribe now, my replacement, I suppose you would call her. If you find some way of passing a letter to her, she's agreed to send anything for me to California.  
  
I'm sorry if this letter has caused you pain or hurt in any way, but as I said before, I couldn't leave Africa without saying goodbye.  
  
Your sister, Tanya.  
  
*****  
  
There was barely time to leave the letter with scrawled directions written on the back of the sheet of paper, before Alice transported me to the place where all our decisions were to take place. 


	7. Angel's Destiny

Note: bad, *bad* Hannah! I wouldn't blame you if you'd completely forgotten about this fic, but this is the end... As I mentioned before, I was thinking about continuing it to deal with the other Rangers not mentioned here, but outside commitments mean I'm having trouble finding time to sleep, let alone write. If anyone else wants to take it from here, feel free. Oh, and new feedback address is: travellingchopstick@hotmail.com. On with the show...  
  
*************  
  
'something tells me we've only just begun....'  
  
"This is a big screw-up. The biggest. From start to hastily brought forward finish," Rocky said angrily, pacing and pacing again the boundaries of the Command Centre. "Is it just me, or is anyone else thinking this is some strange Hallowe'en prank that Zordon forgot to pull on the correct date, so he's doing it now?"  
  
"No, Rocko, that would be just you. But I agree, it's surreal, to say the least," Tanya said. "How long did everyone else get in their parallel universes?"  
  
"About eighteen hours, if you count the time travelling from Switzerland," Trini said distantly. On noticing curious glances, she said reluctantly, "My second chance was to get to Billy before he left to go to Aquitar, and tell him how I felt about him."  
  
"What happened?" Kim asked curiously. She'd known about Trini's well- hidden infatuation for years, of course, but she never thought that would be her best friend's second chance. Somehow she had thought Trini would have been unable to show her feelings, but it seemed she was wrong.  
  
"Well, he said he loved me, but didn't want me to give up Switzerland and all the opportunities the Peace Conference would give me, just for him. We were getting somewhere when Alice came and said she'd run into trouble."  
  
"So what are you going to do?" Tanya asked Trini. She didn't know her predecessor as the Yellow Ranger well, but well enough to be intrigued as to which decision she would finally make regarding what she believed to be unrequited love... until now.  
  
Trini sighed, and massaged her temples slowly. "I don't know... I need more time, and even though we have a time-manipulating angel in the next room, time is somehow the one thing we don't have."  
  
"Does anyone know what they're going to do?" Tommy asked suddenly, once the silence after Trini's proclamation had begun to stifle the small room where they were currently gathered. "I thought the decision would be clear- cut, but it's anything but."  
  
No-one replied immediately, but the smallest of nods could be detected from the corner of the room where Rocky and Kim were leaning against what appeared to be a lab table.  
  
"What was your second chances then?" Tanya asked.  
  
Rocky and Kim looked at each other, both strangely unwilling to let go of secrets which had plagued them for so long. "You go," they said simultaneously, then giggled at the predicament.  
  
"Come on, it's not as though we're going to remember any of this, according to Alice," Tommy reminded them. "Remember? She said no matter what choice we made, it would be as though the moments after the event had never happened... or something like that. Maybe..." He looked slightly confused, then admitted, "Okay, so I don't quite understand the logistics. But I do know we won't remember this. So spill."  
  
"Fine," Kim exhaled. "I had the chance to go back and not write the letter to you." For what was probably the first time since she had left for Florida so many years ago, she found the strength to look her ex- boyfriend in the eye - without flinching, being overcome with guilt, or wanting to run from the room. "And when Alice asks me what I'm going to do, I can tell you now - I'm not going back to working on New Year's Eve, knowing that I'll probably spend another year on my own because I still love you, and can't put my heart into dating another guy."  
  
Tommy looked shellshocked,but Tanya said quietly, "You asked for that, fearless leader. We haven't got time to dissect it further, what's yours, Rocky?"  
  
Rocky left an awkward pause, aware that his decision would be the most controversial of all those in the room. "Well, you'll never look at me in the same way again, even if none of us remember today after it's over. I had a daughter when I was 15."  
  
The five friends assembled around him made various noises of shock and wonder, and Rocky waited until they had died down before continuing. "Yeah, I know I should have told you, but truth is, I didn't even tell Adam and Aisha when they were my closest friends. My second chance was to go and tell Rosa's mother that I would stand by her and give her money to look after Rosa. We were no longer together, and her boyfriend thought that Rosa was his... Anyway, I got to where they'd been living, and they weren't there. Alice said there was no time left to try and track them down, and I guess I always knew that Emilia's new guy would be a better father to Rosa than I could ever be. You know, he had a job and everything...." He took a deep breath, and said out loud what conclusion he had come to. "I have to let Rosa go - but if and when I have another child, I'm going to do it properly, and never let them down the way I did to her."  
  
"I don't know what to say," Tommy said quietly after Rocky had stopped speaking. "I had no idea..."  
  
"No-one did," Rocky re-iterated. "Lord knows how, but I kept it from Adam and Aisha. Only my mom and dad knew what was going on - and now you guys. Although you won't remember it anyway..." His normally omnipresent sense of humour had deserted him completely as oppressing thoughts clouded his mind, thoughts of what could have been, and what should have been, and he settled down to the idea of a life without his daughter for a second time.  
  
**********************  
  
"How much longer can you give them to decide, Alice?" Zordon asked the angel, who was taking the time to examine the computers and technology bedecking the main room of the Command Centre. She looked away from the swirling depths of the viewing globe, and stared at him.  
  
"Not long. Another ten minutes, at the most. But I think they're almost ready to decide... some of them have reached their decisions knowingly. Others have to admit their reasonings to themselves before they can take the next step... knowing they have done all they could."  
  
"And you are certain that they will remember none of the lives they choose to forego?" Zordon asked worriedly. He had always kept an eye out for his charges, and did not wish to see them tormented by decisions they had been, in truth, forced to make from strange quarters.  
  
"I know I ran into a little trouble juggling the time manipulation, but this is the one thing I can say with complete certainty. The five people I have done my best to help today will remember nothing of what transpired today. There is the smallest chance that residual memories will remain, but only through dreams, and the collective power of the angels will ensure that none of them believe these dreams are true. I can assure you that with all I have, Zordon."  
  
"I am glad of that, Alice. I do not want them to believe their decisions will be the wrong ones."  
  
"So far, all their decisions have been right," Alice said, inclining her head slightly, as though straining to listen to the discussion between the five friends. "As for the two that remain, all we can do is hope..."  
  
*********************  
  
"What about your second chance, Tommy? What was it, and what are you going to do about it?" Tanya asked. She left him no choice but to rouse himself from musing about the three admissions which had gone before, and make an admission of his own.  
  
"I..." He stopped, wanting to put it in better wording than that which he had in his mind. No better phrases came to light however, and he continued. "I wanted to know what would happen if I hadn't been kidnapped on my first day in Angel Grove, and if I hadn't become the Evil Green Ranger."  
  
Perhaps only Kim and Trini, who had been there at the time, could completely understand the enormity of Tommy's impending decision, but Rocky and Tanya had a pretty good idea of what had gone on.  
  
"And what happened?" Trini asked. "Were you captured or not?"  
  
"No," Tommy shook his head. "No, I stayed in the locker room for longer than I had done in reality. Although Goldar and about twenty thousand Putties were out there, somehow the Rangers were there, and you guys made me go back into the Youth Centre until you'd sent them back to the palace."  
  
"So are you going to live in that reality?" Tanya asked, then stopped herself. "Sorry, I just realised how much I sound like a character in a bad sci-fi movie. In real terms, what are you going to do?"  
  
"I think...." He halted, aware that his decision would sound borderline- insane to most, if not all of his friends gathered there. "This is going to sound completely crazy, but I don't want to change it. I don't want to make things for the better, and escape capture by Rita. Looking back, it made me a better person, I don't think a lot of things would have happened to me if I hadn't experienced being evil." His eyes met Kim's and she nodded, understanding what he meant. "Besides, I got the team out of many a sticky spot with my knowledge of how evil minds work. I couldn't let the team down now, could I?" He smiled self-deprecatingly, but his eyes betrayed how hard a decision it had been for him to make.  
  
"I don't think that sounds crazy at all," Trini said softly, and everyone else agreed. "Okay, so the whole being thrown out of the Mega-Zord thing I could have definitely done without - " Kim nodded emphatically in agreement, "But I understand your reasoning. And for what it's worth, I think it made you a better leader."  
  
"Better than Jason?" Tommy asked mischievously.  
  
"Well...." Trini laughed. "I still think Billy should have been given a chance to prove how good a leader he would have been, but you were an excellent leader."  
  
"Ah, stop feeding the man's ego, and get on to Tanya's choice," Rocky interjected, feeling slightly better now the focus was off him, and glad no negative judgement had been passed on him by his friends. "Was your second chance to make a go of things with Adam?"  
  
"No, although I have to admit, it crossed my mind," Tanya said quietly. "My second chance was to try and track down my sister. Before I left for Africa in reality, I almost sent her a letter asking why she would never see me. I've spent the time since then wishing I'd had the courage to get the letter to her, so that's what I tried to do with my chance."  
  
"I never knew you had a sister," Kim said.  
  
"She's a lot older than me. She was thirteen when I was born, and as soon as she found out my mom was expecting me, she split. Went to stay with another tribe which my aunt belonged to. My parents hardly ever spoke about her, and certainly never said why she felt such antipathy towards me."  
  
"Maybe they didn't know themselves," Trini suggested.  
  
"That's what I thought.. So, I wrote a letter to her after Alice sent me back, and asked Aisha to try and get it to her. But it was kind of futile - it could never reach her tribe and back in a day, so there's no way I'll ever know if the letter got to her, unless I go to that destiny."  
  
"What have you decided?" Tommy asked, feeling some sympathy towards his friend. After all, he knew how hard it was to make decisions regarding long lost members of your family, and it must be even harder for Tanya to choose in such little time.  
  
Tanya sighed. "I think I'm going to go to the alternate destiny. It won't make that much difference to me - I already knew I was going to be a Ranger, so it won't affect that. And at least I'll have the chance to hear from her. Even if the letter never gets to her, even if she doesn't reply. Even if she sends me a note saying she never wants to hear from me again, at least I'll have tried. That's all that counts for me right now."  
  
*******************************  
  
Alice looked up suddenly from what had been Alpha-5's favourite computer.  
  
"They have decided."  
  
*******************************  
  
The five walked back into the Command Centre's main body, none of them talking as the enormity of what was about to happen washed over them.  
  
Alice greeted them with, "Let me see if I've got this straight.  
  
"Trini, you wish to take your second chance. Therefore, I'll place you back in Angel Grove before Billy leaves for Aquitar, and you can continue your discussion."  
  
Trini nodded.  
  
"Kimberly, you also wish to take your second chance, and you will return to Florida on the 8th February 1996, where you never wrote the letter to Tommy, and also telephoned him on that day to confess your insecurities over the state of your relationship."  
  
"Yeah," Kim muttered, once again looking at her feet, then suddenly realised something, and spoke louder. "But now I've realised this means more wake-up calls at 5am, maybe this is the right time to reconsider...."  
  
"Don't, Kimberly. Belive the angel when she says you are making undoubtedly the right decision," Alice reassured her, and Kim fell silent. Alice's gaze moved on to Rocky.  
  
"Rocky, you wish to reject the opportunity this visitation has provided you with. I will return you to what you believe to be the present day."  
  
Rocky spoke his assent, remembering once again all he had lost, and said no more.  
  
"Thomas, you also wish to return to the present day, and not to take up your alternate destiny."  
  
If Zordon felt any shock over his protege's choice, he did not show it, as Tommy acquiesed with Alice's words.  
  
"Tanya, you wish to take up your second chance, so I will return you to Africa, just before you are about to leave for America, and just after you have entrusted Aisha with the letter for Michelle."  
  
"Please," Tanya said.  
  
Alice paused, and looked at them all.  
  
"For what it's worth, I'm sorry about the disruptions with the time you had in the alternate universes. And, although I shouldn't really be saying this..." she surveyed the five who stood before her. "I can assure all of you that you're making the right decisions. In fact, I can promise you that. And an angel's promise is not to be taken lightly."  
  
"I'm still a little confused," Kim admitted. "What's going to happen now? How much of this will we remember, and how much of what happens to us will change?"  
  
"You will remember nothing of what passed this day. As for what will change, I have no power to change anything which happened to you before the day you chose to change."  
  
"Will we know of the changes that happened in each other's lives, though?" Tommy asked, a worried expression crossing his face. "Hypothetically, will the decision that Kim made affect my life at all?"  
  
"I can't answer that question, Tommy," Alice said. "All that angels can do is give you a helping hand. At the end of the day, the choices you make will affect your destinies more than I ever could.  
  
"Please, no more questions," Alice pleaded. "It's time..."  
  
********************  
  
Soon enough, Alice could look back at a job well done.  
  
Rocky and Tommy's universes had remained the same, and returned to the present day Angel Grove. As she had predicted, dreams had occured which reminded them of what had gone on during her visit, although she had not known that they would actually affect the two's lives.  
  
After a dream about Kim, which had suggested to him that she was as unhappy as he was, he had telephoned her and asked if she would like to meet. She had been surprised, but accepted his invitation. It was early days yet, but they were tentatively resurrecting their relationship which had been interrupted many years ago.  
  
Rocky's dream about Rosa hit home. In it, he had realised Rosa regarded another man as her father, and Emilia would do anything in her power to keep it that way. That night, he finally decided to move on, and, although he didn't realise it, he swore for the second time that he would not let down any subsequent children he may have in the same way.  
  
As for the alternate universes Alice had created for three more friends.... they were going better than even she could have predicted.  
  
Although it had taken some persuasion, on both their parts, Billy agreed to return to California as soon as his treatment was over, and Trini reluctantly decided to go back to Switzerland until his return. He duly returned to Earth a cured man, and able to build the relationship with Trini of which he had dreamed for so long.  
  
In Florida, Kim had also been persuaded to stay in the land where it was considered to be forced awake at 5am by an overly loud alarm clock. After a successful Pro-Globals competition, where thankfully her ankle injury had not been repeated, she returned to California, and was currently helping Tommy open his first dojo, while struggling to make a career choice, nursing being her current favourite choice.  
  
Some things never change...  
  
The only area where Alice could possibly feel a slight failure was with Tanya. Some time after her intervention, Michelle had not made contact with her sister. However, light at the end of the tunnel remained - she had recently received a letter from her parents, who were full with joy that Michelle had returned to their tribe. Tanya was unsure as to whether this was because she herself had departed, or whether her sister was ready to make amends, but she was busy throwing herself into the life of being a Ranger, and decided that it was up to Michelle now to make a move.  
  
She had done all she could for her sister - now it was time for her to return the favour.  
  
None of them would ever remember what Alice had done for them. How she had improved rapidly dulling existences, and returned sunshine to the horizon. That didn't matter to her - as an angel, she was glad she had helped, but it was somehow time for her to move on to her next assignment.  
  
Whatever that may be.... 


End file.
